THIS week the oldest and youngest members of the Corringham Primary School and Nursery Community joined borough Mayor Cllr James Halden, and a representative from DP World London Gateway to plant trees in order to create a Forest School.

Cllr Halden was called upon to plant the first tree - a Royal Oak - with Brody Emans, William Carver, and Lauren Hales in honour of the coronation.

Cllr Mayor Halden said that he had also been involved with the youngest children at the school when he opened the school's Nursery in 2019 and drew the analogy of the schools' continued successful journey to that of "a mighty oak growing from these tiny acorns".

The school has recently been awarded 'Good' status from Ofsted and the strengths of the Nursery were highlighted by the unspectors.

Headteacher, Mrs Karina Garrick, added that Corringham Primary school and Nursery serves a great local community and enjoys promoting these important community events and developing pupils' character and personal and social skills alongside the academic curriculum.

She stated that Forest Schools will enhance these opportunities for children and added: "We are so grateful to DP World for their funding to make this dream a reality."

Corringham Primary received £7,500 from DP World which has enabled the school to start to implement Forest School education.

Environment and sustainability manager at DP World London Gateway, Tom Coulter, also got stuck in to help children plant the trees and said that he was impressed by the school's commitment to outdoor learning and sustainability.

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The Mayor helps pupils plant the first tree.

He added: ""At DP World, we believe that it's our responsibility to take care of our environment and to support our local communities in doing so.

"As such, we're proud to have donated funds to help Corringham Primary School create a Forest School which will provide a unique and immersive learning experience for students, and also help to offset their carbon footprint and support the local ecosystem. We hope that this project will help inspire the next generation to take action to create a more sustainable future."

Mrs Lynda Coetzee, who will be teaching Forest Schools' curriculum to all children at the school from September, explained: "The children will develop their character through participating in Forest School, thereby developing their resilience, independence and confidence when exploring their environment, alongside important knowledge around flora and fauna." She has recently gained her Forest School Lead qualification.

Mrs Rachel Turnbull, the school's eco-Lead also shared how vital tree planting is to theenvironment and she spent the rest of the day planting trees around the school grounds with children from her Eco team.

"This has been an excellent experience for our pupils and we are very proud," she concluded.